THE MIND IS A CONTROL TOWER — SAY IT WITH JOY

An airport, no matter the size, has a control tower that constantly monitors flight patterns, which sometimes will require the redirecting of a flight to ensure the safety of the flight and of others. And like an airport control tower, the mind is a control tower that is continually monitoring and redirecting thoughts.

Everything in life results from how we think and process thoughts and reactions to the world around us. “As a man thinks, so he is” (Proverbs 23:7). The decisions we make are determined by our thoughts. We cannot control others or our circumstances, but we can control our thinking and our responses to what is happening in our personal space and around the world.

Are we allowing God’s Word to shape our thoughts, behaviors, and decisions, or are we allowing secular information, news, TV programs, events, opinions, and comments to shape our thinking and beliefs? That certainly does not mean that we are to ignore what is happening locally and around the world. However, we must be able to discern between what is true and what is deception (Colossians 3:1-8).

God warns us that the god of this world will blind the minds of unbelievers and deceive the believers (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). Notice that God warns believers in Christ that they can be deceived if they do not know the Word of God.

When it comes to our thoughts, we have three choices. We can accept a thought and act upon it; we can reject it with God’s Word; or we can worry and stress over it. All these scenarios require us to act. Fortunately, if we have surrendered to the lordship of Jesus Christ, we have the Holy Spirit to discern what is from God and what is from the enemy.

Jesus warned “…to take care how we listen” (Luke 8:18 NET). What are we listening to these days? Does it fit God’s paradigm of truth? Are we listening to His Word, reading His Word, and sharing His Word? The disciples heard the truth, believed the truth, and shared the truth with others.

Focusing on God’s Word will shape our thoughts, so that our hearts will desire what God wants for us. If we are going to walk and live as a Christian, then self-centeredness (doing things my way) must be replaced with Christ-centeredness (being in the will of Christ and allowing Him to lead).

Each day we must guard our thoughts, so it is noteworthy to ask ourselves these questions:

1. Are these thoughts taking me in the direction that God wants me to go?

2. Do my thoughts align with God’s Word?

3. Are my thoughts governed by a world or a biblical perspective?

4. Am I meditating on and watching wrong things?

5. Are my thoughts life-affirming or destructive?

6. Do the words I speak honor God?

7. Do my thoughts fit who I am as a follower of Jesus Christ?

What we become is decided in our mind. And that decision determines whether we are hot or cold in our relationship with the Lord, which then ultimately affects our place in eternity.

Jesus addressed the lukewarm Christian in Revelation 3:14-22. He said, “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.” Either we are “hot” for Christ, if indeed we are Christ followers, or we cooperate with an apostate world that opposes what is godly.

God has no room for a middle-ground mindset. Either our hearts are aligned with Him, or they are aligned with the world. A serious believer will be completely yielded to God, so he or she will not be drawn into worldly beliefs and agendas.

Revelation speaks of the seven representations of churches that will be active in the last days. Of those seven, God was only pleased with two: the churches of Smyrna and Philadelphia. He chastised the other five: the Ephesus church had lost its First Love (Christ); the compromising church at Pergamos tolerated sin; the church at Thyatira was corrupt and sexually immoral; the church of Sardis was spiritually dead; and the church of Laodicea was lukewarm.

Those five churches that God chastised provides a window into how misguided and deceived people can become when they do not guard their mind with the knowledge of God’s Word. So, we need to ask ourselves another question: “Do I appreciate and love God’s Word, or do I neglect His Word?” The time that we invest in His Word, will determine both the health of our mind and our worldview.

When we plant the seeds of God’s Word in our minds, we should have the expectation that they will grow and bring a harvest of peace, joy, and blessings? For God says that He gives the increase from that planting (1 Corinthians 3:6-7).

God looks for each one of us to be dependent upon Him because the heart is desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). We cannot place our confidence in ourselves, the world, or in a leader. Our confidence must be in the one true God, because Satan is the god of this world and the great deceiver. Just as in the garden of Eden, the enemy perverts truth and offers a smorgasbord of alluring snares to take our eyes and thoughts away from God.

As Christ followers, we must be careful to put our confidence in God and not men, for we know that He will not lead us astray. In fact, we are warned to not let anyone take our minds captive with false philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition and worldly principles and philosophies (Colossians 2:8) This is sound advice, since we live in very dangerous days and are warned, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. (I John 4:1 ESV).

PRAYER: FATHER, you caution me to guard my mind with the lens of Your Word. Help me to plant the seed of your Word in my mind—the control tower of my thoughts, so that I may receive a harvest of faith, truth, love, peace, joy, and blessings. In Jesus’ name, amen.